Tag: my latest novel

I’m not sure what’s going on with My Latest Novel, but for now, I can live in the world created by several of the members who’ve formed the new act, Alphabetical Order Orchestra. They’re working on releasing several EPs as the year goes forward, and this is one of the new tracks that will be featured on those releases. It’s got multiple stages, offering a mix between intimate moments and grandiose Scottish pop. It wears the mark of MLN, but you can also see them pushing in an entirely different direction that’s immediately more accessible. You can help them raise money for their EPs HERE.

Not too long ago we brought you a tune from Alphabetical Order Orchestra, the band who has sprung out of the hiatus of My Latest Novel. That tune offered a glimpse of the band’s blend between folk and pop, but this new tune is much more simple, though equally as beautiful. There’s light bits of percussion, though the song revolves around the acoustic guitar strumming and the vocal delivery. But, just as you think the whole tune will remain on one level, the drums begin to bang, backing vocals unite, all before the song settles back down quietly. No word yet on an official release, but we’ll keep you posted.

Make no mistake about it, we here at ATH are huge fans of My Latest Novel. But what does that have to do with Alphabetical Order Orchestra you may ask? Well, the band is made up of members of MLN, who are currently on a hiatus, so this new project is pretty exciting. There’s no word on any upcoming release, as this track was just recorded a few days ago. It’s a much more straight-forward presentation, but I’ll take what I can kick for the moment, hoping to see what comes next from the group.

Creating a Top 50 Albums list is never easy. You have to battle with what you think the world believes, and what you truly believe in your heart, to be solid jams. We have even more trouble because we have to three writers, all who have different ideas, and we have to make those ideas fit into a neat box. Well, we got it done, and honestly, our criteria was based on two things: how great we thought the album was, artistically speaking, and how long we listened to it without getting bored. That’s it. It’s fool proof; you might not like it, but it’s our list, so here it is… Read more

We have to start this list off with a disclaimer. We have three writers, all with different tastes, so the list should reflect that a little bit. Also, these are our opinions, and by no means, are they meant to be seen as an “end all be all” to the question of what were the best songs of 2009. That being said, we like our list quite a bit. Sure, it’s got some expected numbers at the top, but the rest of the list is genius. We’ve got some of the songs streaming for you, and the rest take you straight to youtube. Follow the jump for full list.

When My Latest Novel released their debut Wolves a few years back many were taken by the forest-folk style, as the band walked a tightrope between organic folk and twee. On their latest release, Deaths and Entrances, the band seems to have fully realized their sound, which now seems to be strengthened by the maturation of a group constructing ornate songs throughout its duration.

Interestingly, the band spent a great deal of time on this album researching their favorite literature, taking cues from their everyday live, and weaving them into the lyrics of the album. The title, for instance, takes its name from a Dylan Thomas poem; they also pay homage to writer Alasdair Gray, who hails from the same land, Scotland, as the group.

Using influential literature as a background for constructing songs has a way of informing a band in a certain sense. In writing this set of songs the band has been able to transform their album into something entirely different than the modern pop album; it reads, rather, like a concisely written piece of prose. There is an elemental flow, not unlike literature, where the pacing of the album slows in parts, waiting for the reader, or listener in this case, to gather his or her thoughts for just a moment before moving on with more details.

The music is like a great deal of the music that is making its way from Scotland at the moment. Vocals are immediately recognizable, but in the sense that many a Scot has a distinctive dialect. And we find that the music throughout the album is quite busy, whilst the band utilizes multiple instruments to construct and deconstruct each song. According to press releases, they wrote a great deal of these songs together, which allowed the songs to blend together as one large piece of music itself; once again this lends itself to the resonance of literature that is evident in their music.

Subject matter varies on the album, with issues of war-mongering seeming to be one of the more noticeable motifs. The outlook is not quite as bright, or at least not in the eyes of the songwriters, and as the band unites to sing in unison, they encourage us all to move forward, beyond our trivial pursuits as we search for something greater for both humanity and ourselves.

Once again, My Latest Novel have created an album composed of millions of pieces, tightly pieced together like a giant jigsaw puzzle of aesthetically soothing tunes. The album exists as a complete composition; its a unified vision of a band sticking together, which inevitably makes it a rewarding listen time and time again.

A few years back, I stumbled into the record store and came across this band, My Latest Novel. They met my requirements for something worthy of checking out: they were from Glasgow and someone references Belle and Sebastian in their review; those days are long gone. The first single from the bands upcoming album, Death and Entrances, is full of complexities and an organic quality that most enjoy these days. Sit back and listen.